Lleyton Hewitt: Lethal on the Lawns

Lleyton Hewitt has reminded opponents he remains dangerous on his favorite surface.

If 32-year-old Lleyton Hewitt has looked as good this week at Queen’s Club in London as he did a decade ago, when he was No. 1 in the world and winning Grand Slam titles, that may be because Hewitt today on grass courts is nearly as good as the Hewitt of old on other surfaces.

Hewitt won his fourth match in five days at the Aegon Championships on Friday, beating world No. 8 Juan Martin del Potro, age 24. It was Hewitt’s first win over a Top 8 player in three years. The day before, Hewitt beat No. 19 Sam Querrey, age 25. In both matches he looked much fresher than his younger opponent in the decisive third set. On Saturday, Hewitt will face another relative youngster — No. 12 Marin Cilic, age 24, the defending champion — for a place in the final, and a shot at a first title in three years.

While Hewitt’s excellent run of form may be unexpected after he’d lost his last four matches, it is no surprise that he’s improved his results now that the tour has returned to grass courts. Since the start of 2009, Hewitt has won 70% of his matches on grass, including reaching two finals and winning a title — at Halle in 2010 with a win in the final over Roger Federer. That’s nearly as good a winning percentage as Hewitt put up off grass before 2009: 74.3%. Off grass since 2009, he’s been merely ordinary, winning just 54.2% of matches and reaching just one final, which he won.

Hewitt’s sustained success on the lawns demonstrates how good his career might have been, and could still be, if grass were more than a brief break between clay and hard courts on the tennis calendar. Three of the four Grand Slam tournaments used to be played on grass. These days, most players enter just one or two grass-court tournaments a year, rarely more than 10% of their total. That could expand slightly in two years, when the calendar will include an extra week in between the French Open and Wimbledon, which presumably could be filled with more grass-court tennis.

After his match Friday, Hewitt said he wouldn’t mind a longer grass-court season, if he’s still playing when one arrives. “I love playing as many weeks on grass as possible,” he said, adding, “if we can get decent weather, yeah, I’m all for more tournaments on grass.”

Hewitt’s grass preference is a bit puzzling. Other recent players to prefer playing on grass have been tall, with big serves that were even more potent on grass. Pete Sampras, Goran Ivanisevic and Mark Philippousis all enjoyed their best Grand Slam results at Wimbledon, with each posting a significantly better win percentage and dominance ratio — the ratio of return-point winning percentage to server-point losing percentage — at the All England Club than at the other three majors. Each also hit aces on at least 13.7% of their career service points at Wimbledon. But Hewitt’s best weapon always has been his return. His ace percentage at Wimbledon in his career is 9.5% — far better than at the other three majors but still not in the league of Ivanisevic, Philippousis and Sampras.

Hewitt’s other assets nonetheless transfer well to grass. The surface makes it easier for him to hold serve, he can still return well enough to get chances to break, his slice backhand stays low and difficult to attack, and his net game becomes more valuable. As del Potro served to stay in the match at 2-5 in the third set on Friday, Hewitt slammed a hard forehand return at love-15 off a 121-miles-per-hour del Potro serve, then won the point after an extended rally. Del Potro challenged the call on his last shot, called out, and not even close to in. It seemed more like an excuse to rest against his older but fitter opponent than a true challenge of the line call. Four points later, Hewitt gave del Potro more rest by finishing him off with a forehand volley winner.

Hewitt, at 5’11″, is seven inches shorter than each of Querrey, del Potro and Cilic — yet each of them have had better stats at the three majors that are played on surfaces other than grass.

“It is no doubt my favorite surface,” Hewitt said earlier in the week about grass. “I have always moved well on grass, which is a massive thing.”

In the other Wimbledon warm-up event this week, another veteran bettered a much younger opponent in three sets. The winner, 35-year-old Tommy Haas, beat 26-year-old Gael Monfils to advance to the semifinal in Halle. Haas has had success on all surfaces in the past year, improving his ranking from No. 87 to No. 11. He is playing a full schedule, unlike Hewitt: Queen’s is just Hewitt’s 10th tournament this year. Still, with Hewitt’s result here he will move up to about No. 70 even if he loses to Cilic on Saturday. If he wins the event, he’ll move up to about No. 50 in the rankings, good enough for direct entry into just about any event he wants to play.

After his win Thursday, Hewitt marveled at Haas’s revival. “I saw him play at Halle when I was there last, and he was very average and his body wasn’t holding up at all at that stage,” Hewitt recalled. “You know, I thought that was pretty much the end for him. He’s done remarkable [work] to come back and play the tennis he’s playing.”

Hewitt also drew a clear line between his approach to the sport today and Haas’s. “I’m not going to play week in and week out, anyway,” Hewitt said. “I pick and choose my schedule when I feel like playing and the tournaments I want to play. I don’t care about my ranking whatsoever.”

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